'Deliver Us From Evil' thrills with Eric Bana's haunted cop

'Deliver Us From Evil' has a climactic sequence worth the price of admission

Buckle up for the ride that is "Deliver Us From Evil," a highly intense and effective mash-up of police procedural and horror show. Boosting the story's thrill quotient is its air of authenticity: The film was inspired by actual paranormal cases described by former New York Police officer Ralph Sarchie in a 2001 book he co-wrote with Lisa Collier Cool.

In lesser hands, the movie might have seemed silly or clichéd — and for some it still may — between its believe-it-or-not devil-doings and patchwork of dueling-genre tropes. But Derrickson ("Sinister," "Emily Rose"), with superb assists from lead actor Eric Bana (as solid as they come), cinematographer Scott Kevan and three-time Oscar-winning sound designer Paul N.J. Ottosson, has crafted an absorbing, at times riveting spookfest.

Bana, sporting a credible New Yawk accent and great-fitting T-shirts, plays Sarchie, a tough if haunted South Bronx-area cop with a self-described "heavy hand." Along with his adrenaline-junkie partner (a buff and tatted Joel McHale), Sarchie begins investigating a string of bizarre events, which include unhinged mother Jane (Olivia Horton) chucking her child into the lion's den at the Bronx Zoo, and the gruesome death of a mysterious house painter.

Father Joe Mendoza (Édgar Ramírez), an offbeat Jesuit priest with a dark past and ties to the feral Jane, tries to convince a skeptical Sarchie that demonic possession is fueling these mounting occurrences. Policeman and padre join up to battle what Mendoza deems "primary evil": a pure, destructive force of infinite power.

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Ancient Latin writing and strange symbols, questions of faith, a chilling and inventive use of music by the Doors and, most frightening, a veteran (Sean Harris) of the Iraq war who's morphed into an inhuman portal for said primary evil, all factor in. Sarchie's pregnant wife (Olivia Munn) and 6-year-old daughter (Lulu Wilson) also become enmeshed in the horror.